Table of Contents

Postings

The FCC can do more to stop annoying, and illegal, robocallsNearly a year ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved rules to allow phone companies to block specific categories of clearly illegally spoofed calls. However, no visible progress has been made to actually reduce the volume of unwanted calls. A lack of law enforcement recourse around illegal robocalls has prompted consumer advocates to ask the FCC to do more.

FCC’s Lifeline program critical to victims of domestic violenceThe support the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Lifeline program provides is vital, especially for survivors of domestic violence. Yet, the FCC is proposing to cut the program—a decision that could impact 70 percent of Lifeline subscribers. This proposal would raise the costs of service and put affordable, essential communications out of the reach of the most vulnerable members of society, including victims and survivors of domestic violence whose access to affordable communications can be a matter of life and death.

Caller ID authentication provides protection against illegal and unwanted callsThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) acknowledges that consumers get an unacceptably high volume of calls that can annoy or defraud. One particularly disturbing category is spoofed robocalls where the caller ID is a fake, hiding the caller's true identity. Consumer advocates applaud the FCC’s rollout of proposed new rules that aim to stop spoof calls and believe implementing caller ID authentication will aid the agency's attempt to curb robocall scams.

Consumer groups call on House to oppose pyramid scheme promotion amendmentA broad coalition of consumer advocacy organizations is calling on the House of Representatives to oppose efforts to weaken the Federal Trade Commission’s ability to protect consumers from fraudulent pyramid schemes. An amendment offered by Congressman John Moolenaar (R-MI) was added to the House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which would eliminate long-standing requirements that direct selling companies establish a viable retail business instead of relying on a churning base of new recruits.

The FCC could do more to block pesky robocallsConsumers received 2.4 billion in unwanted telemarketing and robocalls calls in 2016. It’s the biggest consumer gripe filed with the FCC, which receives 200,000 complaints annually about them. The FCC’s new rules allows providers to block calls coming from invalid numbers, unallocated numbers, and numbers whose owners have requested they be blocked. But advocates urge the FCC to do more to reduce the scam calls.

What’s more annoying than robocalls? We could soon find out.Consumer Action joined coalition advocates in submitting comments to the Federal Communications Commission opposing its proposal to allow private companies and political organizations to send automated messages into consumers’ voicemail inboxes without causing the cellphones themselves to ring. The proposal would move “ringless voicemail” robocalling technology from a regulatory gray area to legal fair game, opening the floodgates for telemarketers and political organizations to inundate Americans’ voicemails with messages hawking products, services, and candidates for office.

Unnecessary FCC rule continues to threaten consumers’ privacyConsumer Action joined coalition advocates in urging the Federal Communications Commission to repeal a rule that requires phone companies to retain the detailed call records of their customers, saying it’s unnecessary and threatens consumer privacy. The rule, known as the data retention mandate, is unduly burdensome and ineffectual and poses a threat to American consumers’ privacy and security.

Consumers have a right to their day in courtForced arbitration clauses are agreements that large corporations often hide in the fine print of contracts that Americans sign every day. These clauses have big consequences: By restricting access to the court system, these clauses prevent consumers who have been wronged from seeking meaningful legal recourse. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a new rule that will prohibit financial services companies and big businesses from including provisions in their fine-print agreements that prevent class-action lawsuits. It's a good start toward unraveling the growing stranglehold that forced arbitration has on consumer rights.

Bringing Lifeline into the Digital AgeThe federal low-income assistance program for affordable voice service, Lifeline, is on the verge of a “reboot” to provide affordable broadband service to bring it into the 21st Century. Modernizing the program is essential for thousands of low-income households that may fall further behind without access. Lifeline is a federally funded program that helps low-income households afford essential communication service and it is the last of the four Universal Service Programs to move to broadband access.